Jerkass Gods: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
m (added Category:Older Than Dirt using HotCat) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 4:
These gods aren't [[The Gods Must Be Lazy|lazy]], but you really wish they were.
Perhaps they view all of life as a cosmic game, with humans as mere [[Cosmic Plaything|pawns and tools]]. Perhaps they're hungry for worship, either [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|literally]] or figuratively, and are willing to resort to manipulation to get it. Maybe it's the age old adage "[[A God Am I|power corrupts]]", or maybe they're just [[
This trope is [[Older Than Dirt]]. The ([[Genius Bonus|literally]]) Ur-example might be Inanna, Sumerian goddess of getting laid and ultraviolence. As might be expected from someone of that description, she took exception to being spurned by the hero Gilgamesh and summoned a heavenly bull to go on a rampage through his city. It did not help that as he turned her down, he [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|listed all her exes and how she arranged their terrible deaths]].
Line 20:
* Many of the various gods in ''[[Kurohime]]'' are assholes to pretty much everyone, including their own [[Mooks|allies]] and worshippers. Except for two so far, the head god who we haven't actually seen do or say anything yet and one other... Shirohime, who is Kurohime's love for humanity personified.
** Never mind about the head god. When we next see her, she is {{spoiler|eating the sun,}} which, in this world, is made of [[Life Energy]] and [[Our Souls Are Different|spirits.]]
*** As it turns out, '''ALL''' of the High Gods are jerks. {{spoiler|And [[Planet Eater
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has The Truth, a mysterious godlike entity that exacts an "equal toll" on those who attempt human transmutation. While he is supposed to be a neutral party, he seems to take an almost sadistic joy in his "fines". The fact that he tends to act smug and playful about it doesn't exactly help.
** He even shows some very unfair (or at least indiscriminate) tendencies when he takes away {{spoiler|Mustang's sense of sight}} as punishment for performing human transmutation even though {{spoiler|Mustang had been literally forced to do it with no way to stop the transmutation}} and the person who was ultimately responsible had received no punishment at all.
Line 68:
* While Minshus in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' is the essence of good, he will occasionally let his angels dish out [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]] on [[Hoist by His Own Petard|victims]] [[Asshole Victim|who]] [[Moral Event Horizon|really]] [[Call It Karma|deserve it]]. Maurice, being the angel of death, has been known to abduct some of his victims. [[Gaia's Vengeance|Filforth]] tries to avoid having any contact with [[Depraved Homosexual|gay]] [[Where Everybody Knows Your Flame|bars]] [[The Tokyo Fireball|for a reason]].
* ''All'' of the Gods in ''[[The Elric Saga]]'' by [[Michael Moorcock]]. ''Especially'' Arioch, the title character's patron, the Lord of Chaos.
* Amongst the [[Eldritch Abomination]] gods created by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], technically just Nyarlathotep counts. The others aren't least bit concerned about humans, or maybe don't even know of our existence, being mostly mindless, chaotic abstractions. But Nyarlathotep seems to love to dick around with humans, typically demanding human sacrifices when summoned, even though he almost certainly doesn't need them for anything, and occasionally giving humans some extra chances to destroy ourselves, even though he could destroy us effortlessly if he really wanted. It seems that he doesn't care about
* This is somewhat [[Flanderized]] description used by later writers. In Lovecraft's original works Nyarlathotep stands in the way of humans who seek forbidden knowledge more often than not, although he can be persuaded to be little more lenient with human sacrifices. On the other hand, his first appearance, before Lovecraft had figured out what to do with him, he was basically the embodiment of scientific progress, and drives humanity mad by overwhelming them with cosmic knowledge.
** This is the approach used in the [[Affectionate Parody]] webcomic ''[[The Call of Whatever]]'', and once humanity starts jerking Nyarlathotep around in turn (thanks to Occultech's helpline boosting cultist survival/success rates), he quits his job. [[It Got Worse|This was more Jerkassish than you would think.]]
Line 84:
* Almost all the Greek gods in Anne Ursu's ''[[Cronus Chronicles]]'' (with the exception of {{spoiler|Persephone}}). The [[Big Bad]] is a demigod who wants to enslave humanity, and most of the other gods either don't care or are actively trying to revenge themselves on the heroes for standing up to them. In the end the heroine {{spoiler|blackmails the gods into leaving humanity alone}}.
* While [[Jesus Is Way Cool]] in Christopher Moore's ''[[Lamb]]'' his father's reaction to Joshua's pleading for humanity is "Screw 'em".
* The first chapter of [[Glen Cook]]'s ''Surrender to the Will of the Night'' has one survivor of a scouting party return to report to the god that sent the party
* A number of [[Tom Holt]]'s novels have jackass deities. In particular, [[God]] is portrayed in ''Grailblazers'' as being not so much evil as prone to [[Moral Myopia]] and [[Disproportionate Retribution]], with two people being cursed to immortality for the incredibly minor sins of giving Jesus a pair of socks instead of frankincense or myrrh and failing to wash up for Him at the Last Supper. Other deities aren't treated a hell of a lot better.
* Most of the ''[[Everworld]]'' gods seem to be this way, or at best they're a bit petty and tend to overreact. This isn't helped at all by the fact that they're pretty much stuck in that mindset with literally no way to change.
Line 97:
* God is messes with Al Bundy a few times in ''[[Married... with Children]]''. Al is a bit of a jerkass too though.
* ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' and ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' usually don't care about accuracy, going for [[Rule of Fun]] every time, and [[Anachronism Stew]] doesn't cover the half of it. They do believe, though, in doing the Greek gods' characters correctly by showing them as the jerks they are, well, except for Hades, who is dark but (usually) the only decent one.
** Sometimes, they make Hades sorta a dick too actually. And not all other Greek Gods were ALWAYS portrayed negatively. Sometimes they're even [[The Atoner]], especially for former [[Big Bad
* The [[Stargate Verse]] is ''built'' on this trope, specifically ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''. The Goa'uld take on the identities of all sorts of gods (or perhaps were the origin of the myths; it's never specified) and often rule with an iron fist. They view humans as disposable slaves and potential host bodies. In the episode "Pretense", Zipacna compares humans to cattle.
** In seasons nine and ten, the Ori come into the picture. They're Ascended beings who want to convert every single mortal into worshipping them. If you refuse, they denounce you as evil and burn you alive for heresy. Unlike the Goa'uld, who rely on technology to make them seem godlike, the Ori actually have supernatural powers to reinforce the belief of their followers, producing incredibly devoted soldiers who are willing to kill every single person who doesn't accept Origin.
Line 104:
** Mind you, the pollution is what gave rise to the evil demon things.
** Daizyujin is this to an extent in ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]'', notably in regard to Burai. But he's not nearly as bad as Daijinryuu in ''[[Gosei Sentai Dairanger]]'', who among other things ''compels several people to jump to their deaths from tall buildings''.
** Daizyujin is pretty much based on the gods of a lot of religions, being better than the ultimate evils that are around but wouldn't know the meaning of the word "fair." In Burai's case, {{spoiler|Burai was only needed to awaken Dragon Caesar, and, though they could probably save his life, which is [[On Borrowed Time]], they don't because "it is not needed for him to survive."}} This is far from the only instance of Guardian Beast [[Jerkass
* This is how God comes off in the ''[[West Wing]]'' episode "Two Cathedrals", especially in the wake of President Bartlett's tirade in the National Cathedral.
{{quote|'''Jed Bartlett:''' (to God) "You're a son of a bitch, You know that? She bought her first new car and You hit her with a drunk driver. What? Was that supposed to be funny? 'You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,' says Graham Greene. I don't know whose ass he was kissing there, 'cause I think You're just vindictive."}}
Line 111:
== Myths & Religion ==
* As mentioned under Anime, Sun Wukong, from ''[[Journey to the West]]'', was such a jerkass god that even the other gods (many of whom weren't exactly nice
* '''[[Classical Mythology|GREEK/ROMAN MYTHOLOGY]]'''. [[Trope Codifier
** The only exceptions tended to be Hades, Hermes, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Hestia. Hades due to hanging out in the underworld all the time and being one of the most law abiding. Hermes tends to punish only the unjust and gets by on [[Rule of Cool]]. Hestia was the most peaceful and is hardly involved in any myths. Hephaestus also tends to be one of the nicer ones considering all the crap his fellow gods put him through. Demeter is also a good mother and even acted as a nanny at one point to a mortal baby.
*** [[Sadly Mythtaken|Though oddly enough,]] [[Everybody Hates Hades|Hades]] [[Sadly Mythtaken|is often portrayed as being like]] [[Satan]], due to him ruling the Underworld.
Line 121:
* Abrahamic God lapses into this, especially in the Old Testament. His treatment of Job, for example, can easily be seen this way. ''[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|More detail is not needed]].''
* The [[Norse Mythology|Norse Gods]]. ''All'' of them tend to have their moments depending on the version of a story. Often this is justified by the other party being a huge dick first, the action being somehow necessary for the good of the world, or just plain the other party can fight back unlike defenseless mortals. They also tend to get held accountable for their actions more than the Greeks.
** Thor, strongest of the Norse gods, as the old myths are full of him being a complete dick. He went on a fishing trip with Hymir, Tyr's father, after he cut the head off Hymir's finest ox to use as a fishing lure, he almost dragged the Midgard Serpent into their boat, which would've sunk them had Hymir not cut the line. Later he threw a cup at his
*** To his defense, Litr did spit into Baldur's pyre, so he had it coming.
** On the other hand, Thor was one of the most benevolent gods toward humanity and respected as an honest, hard working god who represented the common people.
Line 133:
*** Unlike most deities, Susanoo actually faced repercussions for this-after the other gods managed to pry Amaterasu out of her cave, they then proceeded to happily kick him out of heaven until he proved he wasn't completely worthless. This managed to get through to him, and he later slayed the dragon Orochi as penance...and to score a wife. He's still a jerk, he's just a ''mature'' jerk now.
** Ookuninushi, while generally seen in positive light, is actually quite the jerkass. When Amaterasu requested that he hand over the country to her descendants, he seemed alright with it and agreed to do it. Then, several generations later, he caused a plague during emperor Suujin's reign, demanding a new temple to end it. Doing so stopped the plague, but the god was apparently still angry, because he then made the next emperor's son dumb, requiring the emperor to build another temple to him.
* Indra from [[Hindu Mythology]] fits this trope. Whenever
** We ought to note here that according to scholars of comparative linguistics and mythology, Indra is cognate to Thor and Zeus. Explains a lot, don't you think?
*** Unlike Zeus though Indra actually has to pay for it by being [[Humiliation Conga|humiliated time and again]]. Either he loses his throne, cursed by a sage, his greatest victory rewritten so Vishnu saves him and does all the real work, or something else. In the end he went from being the Lord of the Universe to a minor weather god and lord of the elements.
* Ishtar, according to [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh]], is highly untrustworthy, and has the tendency of turning her lovers in moles and beasts when she's tired of them. And when Gilgamesh refused to sleep with her, she sent a huge, [[A Load of Bull|angry bull to
** Enlil caused [[The Great Flood]] because humanity annoyed him with their sounds.
* Freaking every single one of them in [[Aztec Mythology]] (except [[Token Good Teammate|Quetzalcoatl]], and even he had his moments). When your ''rain and fertility god'' likes his [[Human Sacrifice|food]] young and crying, and one of two rulers is literally the god of [[Magnificent Bastard
Line 149:
* Many gods in ''[[Exalted]]'' have grown corrupt and complacent without anyone to answer to.
** The Usurpation came to be because the Golden Age Solars had turned into this, as well.
** And even before becoming the Yozi and Neverborn, most of the Primordials were selfish [[Jerkass
* ''[[Sen Zar]]'' offers too many examples of this trope to count (including, potentially, evil player characters who ascend to godhood), but the prize for ''most'' jerkassness goes to the Eternals, the only type of gods who actually gain (even more) power for being complete jackasses.
* In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', the Time of Troubles led to all of the gods banished to the material plane in [[Physical God|avatar form]], screwing up the Realms pretty much wherever they went. Many of them used this as an opportunity to expand their power base, using human armies as pawns to take down other gods. The kicker is that the whole thing started because they upset the overgod, [[Dungeon Master|Ao]], by stealing the [[MacGuffin|Tablets of Fate]]. However, the fancy-looking Tablets of Fate with every god's name inscribed on it [[The Goggles Do Nothing|don't actually do anything]]! And somehow, because we have a new [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Mystra]] and [[Complete Monster|Cyric]], the "balance is restored". To his credit, Ao does require that deities actually be worshipped to get their power in the future. And hey, we got a [[Continuity Reboot|new edition]] out of it.
** At least according to some sources, Ao was getting tired of the gods goofing off to play power games against each other instead of doing their actual jobs, anyway. The theft of the Tablets was simply the straw that broke the camel's back (and made for conveniently collectable [[Plot Coupon
** You don't know even half the story on how [[Jerkass]] some of the gods were until you've played ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'' and gotten the scoop on Myrkul.
* ''[[Playing Gods]]'' get this trope right. You play as one of the five major gods from the major religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism) or you can use the sixth stand and insert a sticker or [[A God Am I|a photo of yourself]] or use a key ring or action figure or whatever as a god too. You convert other gods sects, spread believers or massacre every other deities sects. It's [[Played for Laughs]] though, and it's really a satire of fundamentalism and religious warfare and how it's better to be at peace with your fellow religions rather than attack them.
Line 173:
* Like his Norse counterpart, Odin in ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' is kinda a dick too.
* [[Utawarerumono|Wisitarnea, both versions,]] definitely ''mean(s)'' well. Unfortunately, this tends to involve killing lots of people, binding souls into eternity for the hell of it, causing natural disasters by fighting and manipulating everyone into wars.
* Daedric Princes are close to gods in the ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' and most of them view humanity as nothing more than amusement. This contributes to Hircine fighting the Nerevarine in ''Bloodmoon'' (Although he does give plenty of warnings, prophecies, signs and such, and the fight is set up to be a fair fight when he could crush you in a second). Molag Bal is the embodiment of this trope, though Mehrunes Dagon is more active. Azura
** Hence why the Daedra are typically stated to be the [[Elder Scrolls]] version of demons. Most inhabitants of Tamriel worship the Aedra, who are "usually" much less jerkassish.
* The [[King of All Cosmos]] of ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' gets his very own subtrope!
Line 187:
* Used as a gameplay mechanic in ''[[Bastion]]'': there are ten Gods; choosing to pray to one will make enemies tougher to defeat, but increase the experience and money you get from beating them. The narrative suggests that the Gods don't look too kindly on humanity since they stopped being worshipped.
* {{spoiler|Ashera}} from ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]''. While she isn't exactly an immature jerk like most examples, she proves to have an extreme view of how the world should be and {{spoiler|ends up turning almost everyone to stone when she awakens and sees the world doesn't match her vision.}} Ironically, she was considered a benevolent goddess before that event, while {{spoiler|her other half, Yune was considered evil, but ends up being much nicer and less extreme, though also a lot more emotional and childish}}.
* Most of the Eastern Gods from the ''[[Izuna]]'' duology (especially their leader, Takushiki) are none too happy with Izuna and her clan trespassing on the sacred Kamiari Shrine, and take their frustrations out on the villagers by placing them under various [[
* The gods in [[Runescape]], for the most part, see their followers as little more than tools they can use to gain an advantage over the other gods. Even Saradomin, who is worshipped by most of the characters in-game, doesn't really seem to care much about his worshippers, and was actively participating in the God Wars without a second thought. The closest thing there is to a 'good' god is Guthix, the god of nature and balance, who created Gielinor and was powerful enough to stop the God Wars.
* One of the structures you can build in [[Bastion]] is a shrine containing idols representing the gods. You can invoke as many of them as you like, which makes your journey ''harder'' (but you get better rewards in turn; invoking all of them nearly doubles your spoils). Although in this case it's justified; before the cataclysm that kicked off the plot, your culture had lost most of its reverence for the gods, and turned them into toys and architectural decorations, so they're a little hacked off at you right now. On the other hand, if you should decide to reject them, they won't begrudge you that, because they think you're just pussing out.
| |||